Macau Grand Prix | Porsche unveils four-car line-up for GT World Cup

A second German-based manufacturer has unveiled its drivers’ line-up for the Macau Grand Prix, following BMW motorsports’ announcement at the start of the month.

For the FIA GT World Cup this year, the factory- backed Porsche field will include nothing less than four 911 GT3R presented under the colors of Sankt Ingbert-based ROWE Racing and Zhuhai-based Absolute Racing.

ROWE will have at the wheel of their cars the 2016 winner, Laurens Vanthoor, as well as Earl Bamber. Two other very experienced drivers and Guia Circuit connoisseurs will drive under Absolute Racing, Kevin Estre and Alexandre Imperatori.

While Vanthoor is the only racer from the Porsche pack that has won the event (with Audi), Estre has actually scored the best result for Porsche so far, achieving the fourth spot in last year’s event.

This will be also the first time that both teams enter Porsches in the GT World Cup although both of them have had several previous experiences in the race (ROWE with BMW in 2016 and 2017 and Absolute with Bentley and Audi).

The announcement comes shortly after other teams said they were returning to Macau this November, including Zun Motorsport which returns for their second FIA GT World Cup appearance, this time featuring a Mercedes-AMG. At the driving wheel of Zun’s car will be Hong Kong’s Adderly Fong, who is also back.

Meanwhile, another Mercedes-AMG will be presented by the Koreans of Solite Indigo Racing and MG Choi, a combination that has worked well at the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia, where the team leads the standings with just one round remaining, due to be held in Shanghai at the end of the month.

Also unveiled is privateer Lamborghini Huracan from Chinese team Martin Cao Racing that will be driven by Cao himself and an Audi R8 LMS GT3 in the hands of Chinese team TSRT, competing in Macau for the first time.

Although the driver of TSRT car is yet to be known, team manager Lin Shuming has hinted on several occasions that they wish to present a “full Chinese team in the world of GT racing.”